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Chapter one of this book examines the meaning, scope and essential components of the law of sedition in India and traces the development of the law.
Chapter two scrutinizes the changes in the interpretation of the law of sedition both in pre and post-independence India. The famous trials in pre-independence India include the sedition trials of Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, which have been dealt with in considerable detail. This chapter critically analyzes the decisions of the Supreme Court of India, in particular the landmark judgment delivered by the Court in 1962 in Kedar Nath v. State of Bihar.
Chapter three delves into the relationship between sedition and the right to freedom of speech and expression, the manner in which the law of sedition was dealt with by the Constituent Assembly, the impact of the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951 on the constitutional validity of the law of sedition and finally the current interpretation by the Supreme Court of India.
Chapter four deals with the law of sedition in the present day and brings to light the manner in which the said law is being misused to fulfil political ends. This chapter scrutinizes the manner in which the law is being used and abused, in what is said to be the largest democracy in the world, by suppressing even legitimate criticism of the government which ought to be the very aim of the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution. The misuse of this law in India in the twenty-first century is inherent in the persecution of public intellectuals like Dr. Binayak Sen, Arundhati Roy and Aseem Trivedi, among others.
Finally, the concluding chapter analyses the flawed framework of this law and it propensity to be abused, and makes recommendations for preventing such flagrant misuse.
ISBN - 9789350354318
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Pages : 118
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